Bucket Drown Baby
Location: Lebanon, Oregon Date: November 21, 1990 Story On November 21, 1990 in Lebanon, Oregon, Edie Carrico was helping her sister, Linda Eli, prepare for the big family Thanksgiving dinner the next day. "I really hadn't talked to Edie in a week, so we were catching up on what had been going on in our lives, you know, just being sisters," said Linda. Linda told the four older kids to go outside and play so she could get the house cleaned up for the next day. "We were talking about the kids, and how big Jessica and Cierra were getting. They're about eleven months old and three weeks apart, and we were talking about how we were going to get together and have just one birthday party for both of them," remembers Linda. Linda knew she had to scrub the kitchen floor, so she went to get a bucket. She went into the bathroom, put some bleach into it, and filled it with water from the faucet. "I walked out and closed the door, thinking that the babies might accidentally go in there and get into it or spill it," said Linda. Linda's youngest child, Jessica, and Edie's daughter, Cierra, started crying a little, and Linda and Edie knew something was the matter. Linda guessed that it was nap time and proceeded to have them lie down on her bed. "We were going to lay the girls down for a nap. That way, I could mop my floor and it would be dry before they got back up," said Linda. Linda and Edie carried on a conversation. Then Edie reminded Linda that she needed to make a bottle for Cierra. "Cierra is an absolute monkey! She's independent, she's just stubborn! She prefers to do things on her own, by herself, for herself," said Edie. As Jessica and Cierra settled down for a nap, Cierra's brother, six-year-old Daniel, came inside to use the bathroom and ran back outside to play, leaving the bathroom door open. "I made the bottle, grabbed a diaper, made a circle through the living room, and went back down the hallway to Linda's bedroom," remembers Edie. As she approached the bedroom, she gently called for Cierra. "Jessica was there, but Cierra wasn't. So I walked down the hall and figured that she had just crawled down to the kids' bedrooms at the end of the hallway," recalls Edie. Linda was putting cookies on a plate when she heard Edie scream from the bathroom. "She was just screaming, a mother's scream, when your child is hurt, or you know they're gone," remembers Linda. Edie had found the bathroom door open to notice Cierra, who must have crawled in, face down in the bucket of bleach! She was extremely cold, her lips were blue, and her face was ashen. When Edie turned her over the sink, goo came out of her mouth. Edie frantically ran into the kitchen, carrying Cierra in her arms. "Oh my God, Linda, Linda, she's dead! She's gone!" Edie said frantically! When Linda asked what happened, Edie explained that Cierra had fallen into the bucket. "The instant I looked at her, I knew something terrible had happened. I checked to see if there was a pulse. I felt it very faintly, but I could tell her chest was not rising and falling. I knew that if I didn't do anything immediately, she would die," said Linda. After each breath, Linda looked at Cierra, but it wasn't doing any good. Linda started to feel helpless, but then she remembered, this is why she learned rescue breathing. "After the sixth one, she opened her eyes, and I could hear her pull in air on her own. I could tell she was still in danger, but praise God, she was breathing," said Linda. At 3:16pm, rescue units with the Lebanon Fire Department were dispatched to the scene. Linda assured Edie that Cierra was going to be okay and that the paramedics would take her to the hospital. "I kept smelling something really funny. It's like, I smell something, but I can't put my finger on it. Then I turned and asked Linda, 'Was there bleach in your bucket?,' and Linda lost it," remembers Edie. Linda knew that bleach is a toxic chemical, and that it can hurt you. "I always looked at bleach as a cleaning supply, I never in my wildest imagination thought of someone drinking it, or getting it into their system," said Linda. Within 6 minutes of the call, paramedic Tim Frost and his partner arrived at the house. Edie and Linda explained that Cierra had fallen into a bucket of bleach and that she had been in there for five minutes. "When I walked through the door, there was a strong smell of chlorine in the air. It was strong enough to burn my own eyes," remembers Tim. Cierra was in a very serious condition. Because of the added problem they had with the chemical in the water, paramedics didn't think she had much of a chance to survive. Cierra was taken to Lebanon Community Hospital, where she was examined by emergency physician Les Pliskin. "When the child arrived in the emergency room, she responded to what we call noxious stimuli. From that point on, she became less responsive. She never opened her eyes to voice at all," said Dr. Pliskin. Cierra was flown to Doernbecher Children's Hospital and put under the care of Dr. Allen Pasqua. "We knew that she was likely to have a severe lung injury and she also had inadequate function of her heart. Her blood pressure was very low and very difficult to measure. However, she did show some neurologic function, which, early on in her course, is a very good sign," remembers Dr. Pasqua. "She looked so helpless and tiny. She had every machine in that place on her. I couldn't even hold her. I think that was torture," said Edie sadly. Dr. Pasqua believes that this seems like an accident that couldn't happen and like something that a child couldn't do. "In my five or so years of critical care, I've seen four or five bucket drownings. Many of them have been fatal," said Dr. Pasqua. After two weeks in the hospital, Cierra was released. In a checkup six months later, she was given a clean bill of health. "I'm so thankful that we have her today to share and to love. So it was truly a miracle," said Edie. Over the last ten years, hundreds of children have died by drowning in buckets. "When I heard that most children die from this and don't come back, it really hit me what a special child she is. She's a blessing. She's a miracle," said Linda. "The best is that I have the joy of her today and that I can speak out and make more parents aware of their surroundings. Children move fast. Don't underestimate them," Edie stated. "You'd think that a child could fall in a swimming pool and drown, so you put a fence around it. But the thought of six inches of water taking a baby's life, you just don't think about it," said Linda. "Children have larger head sizes in proportion to the rest of their bodies. So you could picture the one-year-old simply looking into the bucket, end up head-down in it, and unable to get out," said Dr. Pasqua. "I feel that anyone, whether a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle, should learn CPR. I never thought it would happen to me, but at that time, I had the knowledge, and I used it. And she's alive today because of it," said Linda. Category:1990 Category:Oregon Category:Drownings Category:Holiday